Hands on – A Week with the Jawbone BIG JAMBOX

This article could have almost written itself – I very well could have written that the BIG JAMBOX from Jawbone is awesome and leave it at that. However, it’s not that simple.

At 10” x 3.1” x 3.6” and 2.7lbs, it is not small but definitely portable. It feels solid, sturdy. All the basic features work great* and the sound quality is very nice. I would like a little deeper bass but all in all the BIG JAMBOX really delivers. It certainly blows away the original JAMBOX. The battery life is great – with 15 hours of continuous play, most of your in-town activities are covered. The only issue I have is the price. At $299, it may be just out of reach for a lot of the potential buyers out there.

Here’s a breakdown of the features I really liked –

Portability

I was able to enjoy great music by the pool, hanging with friends in the house, playing sports outside, washing the cars, doing yard work – it went everywhere around my house and doesn’t have to be plugged in

There was basically seamless connectivity to my iPhone 4S and iPad2 (*I had a small issue with the 4S where the sound would play for 2 or 3 seconds and stop, pairing again cleared it up)

This Bluetooth enabled speaker and speaker phone is very easy to use and the quality works as advertised. Past about 30 feet the connection gets a little choppy and cuts out. Otherwise all is good

Sound Quality

Mentioned above – the sound is very good – I had no issues with any of the music I played which varied from rap to electronic to hard rock to pop. Even cranked up to the max volumes on the iPhone and BIG JAMBOX, the sound quality was still high (albeit annoying to others)

Color variety

While not a major feature – I like that BIG JAMBOX offers up some choice in color and design. It’s available in Red Dot, White Wave and Graphite Hex. My kids thought the red one was a block of cheese

Ease of use

All the plugs, buttons, controls were easily located, easily understood and they ‘just worked’ – I found no need for a manual and only looked through it to make sure I wasn’t missing a feature

Mytalk

Jawbone makes it easy to add applications, features and upgrades to the BIG JAMBOX

Some weaknesses

The weight

Is it fair to have portability as a feature and weight as a weakness? Maybe not, but I would say that I don’t see me lugging it around on a long hike or throwing it in my laptop bag. Taking BIG JAMBOX is more of a commitment and isn’t a device that you’d want to be carrying for hours

The price

Again, $299 is a little steep – however, if you’re looking for sound quality and ease of use, this may be what you’re looking for

BIG JAMBOX is an easy to use, high quality device with great sound. While the price may be a little high for some consumers, it provides more features (i.e. speakerphone, mytalk) and longer battery life (15 vs 8) than similarly priced Bose Soundlink. If you’re in the market for a modern boombox, have a look at the BIG JAMBOX.

Have you made similar comparisons? Have you used this product? What do you think?

About The Author

If the computer breaks, the network won’t connect or a cell phone is acting funny, the family calls me. I’ve worked in and around technology development for nearly 20 years. I’m a tech, information and football fanatic with a short attention span who is always trying out new things and sharing information about them with others. In my “free” time, I enjoy drawing, photography, writing, watching anime and spending time with my family. Follow me on Twitter | Facebook | Web